Governor David Ige warned in a Tweet: “Life threatening flash floods. This is a very dangerous situation. Avoid unnecessary travel.”

NOAA's latest update read: "At 200 AM HST (1200 UTC), the center of Hurricane Lane was located near latitude 18.4 North, longitude 158.0 West. Lane is moving toward the north near 5 mph (8 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue today. A turn toward the west is anticipated Saturday, with an increase in forward speed. On the latest forecast track, the center of Lane will move over, or dangerously close to portions of the main Hawaiian islands later today and tonight.

"Maximum sustained winds are near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Lane remains a powerful category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some weakening is forecast from later today and tonight through late Saturday, but Lane is expected to remain a dangerous hurricane as it approaches the islands.

"Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles (205 km).

"The estimated minimum central pressure is 956 mb (28.23 inches)."

The next NOAA update will be at 5am HST (4pm BST).

Hurricane Lane is still barrelling through the Pacific Ocean at about 180 miles (290 km) southeast of Kailua-Kona.

More than a foot (30 cm) of rain has already fallen on the eastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii, said Kelly Wooten, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii County Civil Defense agency.